Metal melting 3D printing technology (Selective Laser Melting, SLM) is a kind of technology using high-brightness laser to directly melt metal power materials, and directly forming a component with any complicated structure, which has properties similar to a casting, via a 3D model, without adhesives.
By means of the metal melting 3D printing technology, a component having a strength level reaching that of a casting can be formed. However, the formed component has a large shape error and a poor surface finish; therefore, the formed component needs to be machined secondarily using a traditional machining method, only by this can the component obtain a shape and a surface accuracy meeting the requirements of aviation manufacturing industry.
In the prior art, an electron beam melting and cutting composite technology is adopted to combine the metal melting with cutting machining. The electron beam melting and cutting composite technology uses a high-power electron beam gun to directly melt the metal powder material in a vacuum chamber, and a component having any complicated structure and properties similar to a forging is directly formed via a 3D model without adhesives. Besides, by performing a printing operation and a cutting operation at the same time, a surface figure accuracy of the finally formed structural component can directly meet the usage requirements.
However, the electron beam gun has to be used in a vacuum environment and a high temperature is generated during the forming process; therefore, the cutting manners in the vacuum environment may be greatly restricted; firstly, the high temperature generated when the electron beam gun melts the metal powder has a heat effect on other elements inside the vacuum chamber; secondarily, due to the temperature variation in the vacuum chamber the structural component will undergo stress deformation during the cutting process.